Bird’s Nest Cookies – No Bake Easter Recipe

These adorable Bird’s Nest Cookies are ready in just minutes and are a no bake recipe that is perfect for both Easter and spring. The cookies are super easy to make and will delight your children and the young at heart. The taste is a crunchy mixture of chocolate, peanut butter and chow mein noodles with three small pastel colored chocolate eggs as a topping.

Chow mein noodles are often used as a topping for vegetable dishes, but the crunchy texture makes a really nice sweet treat when it is combined with sugar, cocoa and peanut butter. (For another fun cookie using these noodles, see my Pumpkin Haystack Cookies.)

Spring will soon be here with the birds back in our yards serenading us with their joyful voices. With Easter right around the corner, what better project to celebrate spring than these bird’s nest cookies. (I made some Easter nest cupcakes last year and they were a huge hit with my readers.)

Making these bird’s nest cookies is a snap.

Gather your ingredients. The base of these cookies is a mixture of cocoa powder, sugar and peanut butter and the crunch of the cookies comes crisp Asian noodles. (I’ve seen them made with baking morsels, but this makes the recipe much more expensive, so I am going for really homemade.

These fun cookies could not be easier to make. Your kids will love to be involved, especially forming the nests and adding the Robin’s eggs at the end. There is no baking involved and they are very quick to put together.

Start by combining the sugar, milk, coconut oil and cocoa powder in a saucepan on the stove over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, making sure to stir often until it is nice and creamy and thick. (about 5 minutes)

Remove from the heat and stir in the peanut butter, chow mein noodles and vanilla and combine well. That’s all the cooking that is involved! Easy peasy – over and done in just minutes.

Place spoonfuls of the mixture into the prepared muffin tins. You can make them as small or as large as you like. Small mini muffin tins will hold a few mini MM peanut candies, or jelly beans on top. A normal sized muffin tin will hold a whole Peep or the larger Robin’s eggs. I made both sizes.

Form the mixture into the shape of nests. Allow them to cool a little and press down in the center of each nest to make an indentation.

TIP: Work quickly. This mixture sets very fast and if you don’t work quickly enough, you’ll find that it either won’t form nests too easily, or won’t allow you to indent the top. Also, if the mixture is too set the eggs will roll off instead of staying in the nests.

A way to prevent the eggs from topping over is to melt some chocolate chips in the microwave for about a minute and add them to a piping bag and pipe some chocolate into the indentations and then attach the eggs. Since I am a #madcrazyladyblogger who needs to take photos, this step came in handy!

Note: You can also make the nests free form by placing mounds of the mixture on parchment paper, forming them a bit into a nest shape and pushing down in the center. If you do them this way, you won’t get such a defined shape, but you also won’t have a muffin tin to clean up!

Drop in 2-3 Easter egg candies or a whole Peep, depending the size of your nests, and allow the cookies to harden. Enjoy! Each small nest cookie has approximately 150 calories. Not too bad, even if you are watching your weight.

Let’s have a taste of these nest cookies.

These bird’s nest cookies are a delight. They are sweet and crunchy with the taste of chocolate and peanut butter. Sort of a Reese’s experience with a ton of crunch.

Be sure to buy some left over Easter candy when the holiday is over. These nest cookies are fun to enjoy all spring long! The sweet treats are a much fun to make as they are to eat!

The cookies will look delightful on your Easter party table. Add a fun printable or other easy decor item along with the cookies and you’ll have a centerpiece in no time.

Centerpiece Ideas
Check out these ideas for Easter projects that you can put together in just a few hours:

optional: Larger Robin's eggs and Peeps birds are a good size for the larger muffin tins

Instructions

Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray and set aside.

Combine the granulated sugar, 2% milk, coconut oil and cocoa powder in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat on the stove fir about 5 minutes. Bring the mixture just to a boil, being sure to stir often

Remove the pan from the heat and add the peanut butter, chow mein noodles, and vanilla extract.

Place spoonfuls of the mixture into the prepared muffin tins. The small tins will hold a few Robin's eggs. Large muffin tins will hold a whole Peep. Form into the shape of nests. Work quickly since the mixture hardens in no time.

Let the nests cool slightly and then make small indentations in the center of each cookie. Drop in 2-3 egg shaped candies or a whole Peep, depending on your size chosen, and allow the cookies to harden. Enjoy!

Tip: if your eggs roll out of the nests, just melt some chocolate chips and pipe it into the indentations in the nest. This will hold the eggs in place.

Makes about 18 small birds nest cookies. I got 12 small and 5 medium sized nest out of the recipe.

Notes

Makes about 18 mini nests or 12 medium sized ones Nutritional info is for the small nests.

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Hi! I am Carol and I love to garden and cook (with a bit of DIY thrown in for fun.)
I come from a long line of gardeners and have always loved to experiment with food and recipes.
Join me as I cook and garden my way through life.

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